a gift
by nw150
Summary: my story for whitem's contest. I don't own KP. Sequel " after school and aftermath." Is up!


A gift

A thin layer of snow fell outside the ABC pre-k as the sloth pulled up to the curb. Inside the car Kim Stoppable looked in the back seat at a little boy with messy red hair, big ears, freckles and bright green eyes. "Are you ready for class today C.J?"

"I don't wanna go today. It's too cold." The boy complained.

"Now, C.J. If it was too cold today, they would have cancelled class." Kim said to her son. "I thought you liked it at pre-k."

"Not really." the boy replied. "I don't have any friends and everyone makes fun of me because we're friends with Miss Tara."

Kim let out a sigh for two reasons one being Tara was happily married now but C.J. had known her a while before her marriage. Her name was now Mrs. Tara, but she and Tara were willing to give the four year old a pass on that matter. "Now C.J." Kim said turning in her seat to face him. "You'll make a friend eventually you just have to be patient and keep being as nice to people as you usually do." She said with a smile. "And as for people making fun of you, do you remember what daddy said?"

A smile appeared on the boy's face as he replied. "Never be normal?"

"That's right." she said to her son. "Now be a good boy and go to class. Maybe today is the day for you to make a friend. OK?"

"All right mommy." He said as he unbuckled his car seat and opened the door. As he got of the car his mother got a glimpse of his cowlick that was an exact duplicate of his father's if it wasn't for their son's red hair and green eyes you couldn't tell them apart. Kim sighed as she thought playfully too herself _just my luck to give birth to a perfect clone of Ronald Dean Stoppable, at least we didn't end up with tweets._ That last thought sent a chill down her spine.

As the car drove away C.J. walked towards the front door of the school and noticed all of the Christmas decorations on the building. The four year old boy didn't know the word yet but he was becoming familiar with the concept of irony. Christmas was usually the time of year when he got presents, spent time with his family and had fun. So far, that wasn't turning out this year. It was unusually warm this year which meant that it wasn't cold enough for thick snow and that meant the usual school cancellations before the break didn't happen. Despite this it was still cold enough to make you miserable. Wanting to get out of the cold, he quickly made his way through the doors and to his class. Once there he found Miss Tara sitting at her desk as usual. She looked at him as he came to the door and smiled. "Good morning C.J. How are you?"

"I'm doing good, Miss Tara." The boy said happily. Tara smiled and shook her head, she should talk to Kim later. C.J. was a smart boy maybe teaching him the difference between Miss and Mrs. would make a good new year's resolution. Bringing her attention back to the boy in front of her, she said "About to start class C.J." The boy nodded and went to sit on the floor in his spot.

Scanning the room he found someone sitting next to him for a change. A little girl with long black hair s pulled back in a loose ponytail with a blue ribbon that matched her soft blue eyes. While most boys his age thought girls were yucky he had no problem calling this girl pretty. In fact the only thing slightly off about her was her unusually pale skin but remembering what his mother had said he decided to start up a conversation anyway. "Hi. I'm C.J. What's your name?" He said as he offered his hand to shake.

It took several seconds for the girl to answer. She acted nervous for some reason and refused to look at him. Finally she got the courage to respond. "Uh, hi, I'm…" Before she could finish, Mrs. Tara spoke to the class.

"Sweetie, could you come up here please?" she said looking at the girl sitting next to C.J. Hesitantly the girl went to stand next to Mrs. Tara. She nervously held her hands in front of her and looked at the ground. Mrs. Tara laid her hands on the girl's shoulders and continued speaking. "Everyone, I would like for you to say 'hello' to Sarah Go." After a round of muffled "hellos" from the class, there was a moment of uncomfortable silence as Sarah continued to stare at the ground. Trying to reassure the girl, Tara got down on her knees beside her and said "Say 'hello', sweetie."

After swallowing hard, Sarah fearfully looked up at the class and gave a weak "Hi". Sighing, Tara realized how uncomfortable the girl was in front of the class. Patting the girl on the back she said, "Good job, Sarah. Why don't you go have a seat, and we will get started. OK?" Nodding, the girl made her way back to her spot on the floor next to C.J.

Rubbing his neck awkwardly, C.J. said, "So, um, …"

"I'm Sarah." The girl said cutting him off.

"Yeah," C.J. replied "Nice to meet you." He once again offered his hand to shake. The girl looked at him strangely, glanced at his hand, looked back at him, raised her own hand in front of her face and looked at it nervously. Sensing the girls fear, C. J. tried to reassure her. "I'm not going to hurt you. It's just a handshake. It's what Mommy and Daddy say people do when they meet each other." She glanced back down at her hands unsure of what to do. Growing impatient, C.J. took her hand anyway and started shaking it. The girl jumped slightly at the touch, but didn't pull away. "See, no big." C.J. said as he released her hand.

The girl gave a slight smile as she became more comfortable with this new boy. Before they could continue the conversation, Mrs. Tara spoke. "OK everybody, it's getting close to Christmas. So, I want everyone to get a piece of paper and crayons. I want you to draw a picture of what you want for Christmas."

After all the kids had gotten their supplies, they gathered around the arts and crafts tables and began working on their assignment. As usual, C.J. had a table to himself in the corner of the room until Sarah sat down in front of him. "Ca-can I sit here, please?" she asked.

The boy's face instantly lit up with a goofy smile, which was the spitting image of his father's. "Sure." He said enthusiastically. Sarah put her supplies on the table, sat down and quietly started working. C.J. looked at her for a moment wondering why she was so quiet. Giving up the question for now, he began his own work. Unbeknownst to the two children, they both drew a single stick figure on their pages. Both children, being finished with their work, put down their crayons and glance up at each other. C.J. once again tried to start a conversation. "So, did you and your parents just move here?"

"Yeah, but I don't have parents." Sarah replied.

This stunned C.J. for several moments. He's never met anyone who didn't have a Mommy and Daddy. "Well, who do you live with?" he asked.

"My uncle, Wesley." She answered.

"Oh, ok." C.J. said. His mind was still whirling with a thousand questions. _How can a kid not have parents?_ His parents had taught him that it was rude to be nosy, but he couldn't contain his curiosity any longer. "So, ummm, why don't you have…" Before he could finish the question, Mrs. Tara came by to collect their papers.

Seeing the almost identical drawing on both, she asks them both "So, what is your picture? What do you want most for Christmas?"

"A friend." They both answered at the same time. They looked at each other in surprise. Tara had to control the giggle that wanted to escape as she recalled how Kim and Ron had met. _Oh boy, here we go again!_

* * *

><p>Later, as the children made their way onto the playground, C.J. and Sarah were trailing behind the others. "I'm thirsty. I'm going to get my juice box." C.J. said as he turned to go back into the building. Sarah continued to walk toward the playground. The snow was still falling outside and there were a few places on the playground with enough snow to make snowballs. Most of the children had discover this and had started a snowball fight away from the building. Despite being bundled up for the cold weather, Sarah found that her hands were beginning to get cold. She quickly glanced around the playground to make sure no one was watching her. After she was sure, she held up her hands in front of her face, closed her eyes and concentrated. In a few moments, both her hands were covered in a weak flickering light red plasma. It wasn't very strong and only lasted a moment, but it was enough to warm her hands.<p>

Her concentration was broken suddenly by the voice of a boy from her class. "What are you doing with your hands?" the boy asked in disbelief.

"Um, nothing." She replied. She quickly shoved her hands into her coat pockets.

"No. I saw you. Your hands were on fire!" he responded

"No they weren't!" she responded in a panicked voice.

"Yes, they were! You're some kind of freak or something!" he said becoming more hostile. His shouting had drawn the attention of the other kids. A crowd of children began to form around them.

C.J. returned to the playground and looked for Sarah. He saw her surrounded by the other children and knew she was in trouble. He quickly made his way to Sarah. "What's going on?" he asked.

"She's a weirdo!" The other boy said pointing at Sarah. "Her hands were on fire. I saw it! She might be sick or something. Don't get too close or you might catch it!" The other children were laughing while they took several steps backwards. "Get lost!" the boys said to Sarah as he scooped up a handful of snow. "We don't want freaks like you." With these words, he cruelly hurled the newly made snowball at Sarah's face. Before it could hit its mark, a hand reached up and caught the missile in midair. Everyone gasped. C.J. stood beside Sarah knocking the remnants of the snowball from his gloves. "Why'd you do that?" the boy shouted at C.J.

In the moments before, C.J. had experienced a flash of anger at the way Sarah was being treated. If the other kids had been watching, they would have seen a brief flash of bright blue flame in his eyes. With narrowed eyes, C.J. replied in an unusually even voice, "Just because someone is different doesn't mean you should laugh at them or hurt them, for that matter." All the children watching were taken off guard by this. Their eyes were telling them that C.J. was standing there speaking but his words sounded like an adult.

Trying to regain control of the situation, the other boy shouted at C.J. "Says who?"

In the same even tone, C.J. replied, "Me."

The other boy, embarrassed at being upstaged, shouted, "Who put you in charge?"

C.J. calmly replied, "No one, but I'm the one standing between you" as he pointed at the boy "and her." He hitched his thumb back over his shoulder toward Sarah.

"She's a freak! If you help her, that makes you a freak too!" the boy angrily shouted.

C.J. just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Cool." He turned his back to the boy and looked at Sarah. "Are you ok?" he asked. Dumbfounded at what she was seeing, all she could do was nod her head. "Let's get out of here." C.J. said. They both turned and walked away from the group. Furious, the other boy ran toward them and tried to grab Sarah's hair. But all he came away with was the blue ribbon from her hair. Sarah gave a startled yelp. C.J. spun around and faced the boy, placing himself once again between the angry boy and Sarah.

Sarah shouted at the boy, "Give that back!"

Smirking, the boy replied, "Why don't you make me?" Laughing, he dangled the ribbon in front of him.

Sarah gave an aggravated growl as her hands once again became encased in plasms. C.J. stepped aside. He looked intently at her hands for a moment. A small smile crossed his face. Sarah stepped toward the boy, but stopped when a pile of poorly aimed snowballs landed at her feet. Becoming aware of the other children, C.J. realized that he and Sarah were now encircled. The children were preparing to attack them with snowballs. Because of who his parents were and what they did, C.J. knew some of the basics of self-defense. One of his first lessons was learning that being surrounded by enemies who could attack from a distance was not a good thing. All his instincts were screaming at him: MOVE. He flung himself into Sarah, knocking her out of the way of the barrage of snowballs that had been hurled at her. The two tried to make a run for it, but soon found themselves backed against a tree at the edge of the playground. As the children once again encircled them, C.J. smiled as he reached behind him and touched the tree. He hesitated as he looked at Sarah. He wasn't sure how she would react to what he was about to do. He thought that maybe they were close to being friends, and he didn't want to scare her. Glancing back at the children quickly making snowballs, he decided it was worth the risk. Moving faster than seemed possible, he threw Sarah over his shoulder and scurried up the tree as fast as he could. Once they were out of range of the snowballs, he sat Sarah down on a thick branch and took a seat beside her. He was about to ask if she was ok when he noticed her sniffling. Afraid that he has scared her, he hesitantly asked, "What's wrong?"

After a moment, she replied "My ribbon."

He scooted a little closer and said, "It's ok. You can get a new one."

Sniffling again she shook her head. "My Grandma gave me that ribbon."

"Well, can't your Grandma get you a new one?" he asked not understanding why she was so upset.

"No" she replied "She's in Heaven."

C.J. felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He understood what Heaven meant. His great-grandma had gone to Heaven and so had his Dad's pet, Rufus. He looked down at the boy still holding the ribbon and taunting them. He made a quick decision. "I'll be right back." He said jumping down from the tree and landing on his feet. The other kids were shocked and moved further away. C.J. marched up to the boy holding the ribbon. He stood in front of the boy and held out his hand. "Give it back!" he demanded.

"Why don't you make me?" the boy replied mockingly.

Without replying, C.J. snatched the ribbon out of the boys hand before the boy even knew he had moved. C.J. turned and walked back to the tree. Becoming enraged, the boy scooped up a handful of earth and snow. He packed it tightly not noticing the rock in the center and threw it with all his might at C.J. The missile made a sickening thud as it connected with the back of C.J.'s skull. C.J. fell to the ground in a daze. He tried to get up, but was unable to stand. Sarah watched in a panic as the boy walked toward C.J. Her mind was running a hundred miles an hour. C.J. was the only person in the whole class who had been nice to her; the only one who had helped her. Now, he'd gotten hurt trying to help her. The panic she felt turned into burning anger, and the plasma in her hands came to life. No longer was it a weak momentary flicker but a strong intense reddish glow that pulsated with a life of its own. The boy moving towards C.J. stopped when a bolt of plasma landed between the two of them. He looked up into the tree to see an enraged Sarah with bright glowing hands. She continued to throw the burning plasma bolts toward him. Each one falling closer to the boy's feet and punctuated with her words. "LEAVE." "HIM." "ALONE!" Before the last word was out of her mouth, the boy screamed and ran away as fast as his legs could carry him. As C.J. recovered from the blow to his head, he sluggishly rose to his feet using the tree for support. He slowly looked up into the branches and saw Sarah standing above him with her hands ablaze. He stood there for a moment awestruck. He remembered someone once talking about guardian angels. He wondered if he had actually found one. Sarah climbed down from the tree. She turned to face C.J.

C.J. retrieved the blue ribbon from the ground where he had dropped it. "Here you go." He said as he offered it to her.

"Thanks." She said.

They stared at each other for a moment, and then asked at the same time, "How did you do that?"

They both laughed. Then Sarah hesitantly said, "Well, um, my family kind of has…..superpowers. What about you?"

"Well, um, what do you mean?" C.J. stuttered.

In frustration, Sarah said, " I mean how did you catch the snowball, climb the tree while you carried me and then jump out of the tree and land on your feet? Nobody can do that!"

"Well, I, uh,…" He paused, took a deep breath, and said,"Can you keep a secret?" She eagerly nodded her head. He leaned in close to whisper in her ear. "I get mystical monkey power from my Daddy."

Sarah didn't say anything for a long time. She just stood there staring at him. Suddenly, she burst out laughing. "Magic monkey powers?" she gasped between peals of laughter, "that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"

"No. It's not." He said defensively. "And it's MYSTICAL monkey powers; not magic!"

"Whatever, monkey boy!" she said still laughing.

"Hey! Those mystical monkey powers got your ribbon back!" he said with a scowl.

"Ok, ok," she said getting her laughter under control. "Thanks for getting my ribbon back. Still friends?"

He was about to reply when he stopped short. _Did he hear her right? Did she say "friends"? Did he have a real friend?_ He stared at her for a moment before breaking into that goofy grin. "Yeah. Yeah, we are still friends."

At that moment, Tara stepped outside and called out, "Ok everyone. Time to come inside and get ready to go home."

C.J. saw a look of disappointment on Sarah's face. "Sarah, do you want to meet my Mommy and Daddy? I'd like them to meet you. You're the first friend I've ever made."

"Sure." She replied as they walked into the building.

* * *

><p>Kim thought quietly to herself, as she drove the car toward her son's preschool. After a moment, she finally spoke. "Ron, honey, how exactly did you get burned by a deep fryer at the corporate meeting?"<p>

"I don't want to talk about it." He grumbled sitting in the passenger seat holding an ice pack to his injured hand. There were times he regretted being the CEO of Bueno Nacho. This was one of them.

Kim sighed and decided to drop the subject as they pulled into the parking lot of the school. She and Ron got out of the car and started walking toward to building, when someone called out behind them, "Kim. Kim Possible." They both turned to see a pale man with dark red hair, who appeared to be a few years younger than them. "Hey guys!" He said as if he knew them.

"Uh, hi." They replied, unsure of who this man was.

After a moment of awkward silence, the stranger slapped his forehead. "You guys don't recognize me, do you? I'm Wesley. Wesley Go." He stated. Kim and Ron raised their eyebrows. The name didn't ring any bells. "You know," the stranger said glancing around. Then leaning in he whispered, "Half of the Wegos" Recognition came over both their faces as they remembered one of the super heroes of Team Go.

"Oh yeah. I remember you." Ron blurted out. "What are you doing here?"

"My niece and I moved here a few days ago. I'm here to pick her up." Wesley explained.

"That's neat." Kim said "Why don't you follow us?" The three of them headed into the building chatting as they went. Suddenly, a redheaded blur of motion latched onto Kim's legs.

"Mommy, Daddy," C.J. said excitedly, " I made a friend today! I…" His gaze landed on Ron's injured hand and the ice pack. "What happened Daddy?"

Ron's face flushed slightly, "Um, it's a long story, kiddo. Did you say you made a friend?" he asked eager to change the subject.

C.J. turned around and looked behind him to see if Sarah was still following him. She picked up her pace when she saw her Uncle. Kim and Ron's eyes went wide as she approached. There was no mistaking whose daughter this was coming up behind their son. A brief surge of panic went through them both. Then they remembered what Wesley had said in the parking lot. As they looked to him with questions in their eyes, he silently mouthed "Later."

Turning back to the children, they watched as Sarah caught up with their son. Nervousness hit Sarah as she approached the Stoppables. She whispered to C.J. "Are you sure you still want to be my friend? I'm not too weird?"

"You are weird." He replied loud enough for everyone to hear. As Sarah started to panic, he finished. "But I like you." The boy soon found out that the comment he made would have unintended consequences.

A look of shock crossed his mothers face just before her eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell into a dead faint. This was too much for Tara, who had witnessed the scene. She let loose with a full blown belly laugh that drew everyone attention. While the situation was very strange to C.J., he was simply too happy to care. He didn't care that all the grown-ups seemed to be losing their minds. It wasn't even Christmas yet, and he'd already gotten the gift he'd always wanted. A friend.

The End.


End file.
